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Nightmare Fuel / Squimpus McGrimpus

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As a Nightmare Fuel page, all spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!

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It's hard to believe that a series of short videos, each one less than 5 minutes long, would be able to reignite the horror of a franchise that's almost 10 years old nowadays, but Squimpus McGrimpus managed to pull it off. Needless to say, after watching these videos, you will learn what it means to truly feel fear.


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    General 
  • Let it be known that Squimpus is such a pro at terrifying people that they managed to take such hardened Five Nights at Freddy's veterans- Dawko, Razzbowski, 8-BitRyan, VaporTheGamer- and leave them absolutely terrified, even crying in fear in some cases. Squimp can make people who play this game or its many clones for a living scared of it again... They are just that good.
  • Perhaps one of the freakiest things about this channel is just how random and unexpected these videos are. The type of horror portrayed is never the same twice in a row. Will it be outright jumpscares and loud noises? Or will it be more subtle, psychological horror? This inconsistency between the videos makes Squimpus that much harder to predict, and makes their videos all the more terrifying.
  • Concerning portraying characters that appear in the minigames, Squimpus manages to make many of them look creepy. Their designs of Psychic Friend Fredbear, Purple Guy, and Foxy Bro's mask are just some of the MANY creations that keep their fans up at night.

    Main series 
  • The first video in the train of horror seems simple enough. It's just a seemingly innocent video on how to properly clean out the animatronics, using Freddy as an example... until the end. After instructing how to remove the torso, the background music cuts out, and a large Censor Box covers up Freddy's exposed torso... but it's not big enough to cover up the blood covering his upper chest and pelvis. Then, the narrator speaks again...
    Climb inside the torso and accept your dea-
  • Bonnie Joint Movement Testing starts off slow. As the name states, it's a video testing Bonnie's joints. Arms, fingers, and legs pass by uneventfully... but when Bonnie's ears are tested, he just... stands there. Eyes? He still doesn't move an inch... except his head has moved, almost imperceptibly, so he's looking straight at the camera. Then the "Jaw" test begins... and Bonnie's disappeared from the stage. The camera pans away from the stage, stopping to point straight into pitch darkness...
  • Sound Response Check tests Chica's response to sound. A tone plays in the left speaker - she looks to the left. It plays in the right speaker, she looks to the right. Simple enough... until the third tone. This one plays in both speakers, but the instructions are cut off at the end. It was most likely designating Chica looking straight ahead, which she does. That would make the most sense, but we'll never know, will we?
    • The fourth instructions simply state "Audio will play." Instead of a tone, operatic music starts playing. Then someone - presumably Chica - starts speaking. She talks about how the music makes her think about birds, and how she once saw one dead in the snow. Then, when she says she can't breathe, the music stops and the image of... someone slowly fades in over Chica's shoulder. Suddenly, the video cuts out, the music kicks back in, high pitched and sped up, and in the final split second of the video, the video comes back, with the text "I CAN'T BREATHE" in big text. The image accompanying this text? A (now-censored) dead bird lying in the snow.
      This music makes me feel better.
      It makes me think about birds. I like birds. They are pretty.
      One time, I saw a bird sleeping in the snow. That's what bad dreams are about.
      I feel like I'm sleeping in snow. And I can't get up. It's too cold for me to do that.
      Things don't breathe when they sleep in snow. I can't breathe.
      I can't breathe.
      I CAN'T BREATHE.
  • Pirate Cove Pre-Show Starts out with a cute cartoon of Foxy that would play on the restaurant TVs before the Pirate Cove show. After Foxy finishes telling the patrons that the show starts in 3 minutes, the video cuts to a black screen with five white stick figures, and one of them fades away. The cartoon plays again, but this time without the Background Music. Foxy still speaks like normal, but is cut off near the end of the cartoon by Weather Alert-like tones. The four remaining stick figures return again, and another one disappears. The cartoon plays again, but now there is no voice or music, except for a text to speech voice saying to discard the tape. It cuts back to the stick figures, and the remaining three fade away one by one, leaving a black screen.
    VIEWING OF THIS TAPE IS PROHIBITED. DISCARD IT IMMEDIATELY.
    • A stick figure version of William Afton then appears and taunts Foxy. The video cuts to purple text saying "GO GO GO GO GO GO," referencing the minigame from FNAF 2. The video then abruptly cuts to Foxy standing alone in the darkness, staring at something, then cuts to Foxy from behind, staring at Golden Freddy, who is twitching rapidly and singing a distorted song. Golden Freddy stops twitching, and the video ends.
      "What's the matter, Foxy? I thought you wanted an audience!"
    • Of course, Golden Freddy isn't twitching for no reason. If you look closely, there's a noose wrapped around his neck. A PURPLE noose.
    • To add to this the canonical name of the distorted track of Fredbear's singing? ASPHYXIATION.
  • Nonexistent Video is a video created by the Puppet, directed to Michael. While it does dip into Heartwarming during the last third of the video, it's still chock-full of Nightmare Fuel. To elaborate:
    • The first scene of the video is a content warning, stating that "the following video is not suitable for photosensitive individuals, and contains content that many would find disturbing." But then...
      But you're going to watch it anyway. You have to.
    • It then shows the logo for Fredbear's Family Diner, a clip of one of the Diner's shows, and an informative paragraph about the springlock suits. But then, all background noise except for the static cuts out, and a still of Fredbear is shown. Fredbear's teeth and muzzle slowly become covered in blood (whose blood it belongs to no question), and the image becomes oversaturated in red and cuts out as a loud noise plays.
    • It then cuts to the Five Nights at Freddy's office, with the phone call from Night 4 playing in the background. The image cuts out in between each knock. After the last knock, Golden Freddy can be seen slumped over before the image cuts out. Then, as Phone Guy asks to check inside the suits in the back room, Golden Freddy's mugshot and roar fades in...
    • Then, the carnival music from the same game plays as quick clips from all four previous videos are shown, with text overlaid, which explains how four tapes were found in the heads of the core animatronics. The music cuts out as Golden Freddy's head is shown, and the text says you're "gifted" and found the fifth tape.
      FOUR TAPES HIDDEN INSIDE THEIR EMPTY HEADS.
      FREDDY RIPPED APART WITH A SMILE.
      BONNIE DANCING IN THE DARK.
      CHICA AND HER WONDERFUL SONG.
      FOXY MEETS THE HAPPY MAN.
      YOU ARE GIFTED. YOU FOUND THE FIFTH.
    • The text, which happens to be The Puppet, goes on to tell the viewer - heavily implied to be Michael Afton - that before his brother died, something else happened at Fredbear's: something that went wrong with the springlock suits (no surprise there). She then shows an image of Springbonnie as she tells us to "watch." The image doesn't move, but the sounds of heavy breathing, something snapping, and screams of agony are played over it. It's a good thing it's only a still image - otherwise we would have been treated to the aftermath of a springlock failure...
    • The Puppet then goes on to tell Michael that the same thing happened to his father; that it killed him, but only for a little while; and that he's still out there. She then asks if he wants to find him, and as she emerges from the shadows while carnival music plays, says "I'll show you."
    • The logo for Fazbear's Fright fades in, with the Puppet telling Michael "not to worry about dates, names, or locations" and that "you'll know it when it happens." She then goes on, while the silhouette of Springtrap is shown over a crackling, fiery background, to explain how to defeat him, even going so far as to where to find the gasoline can to start the fire. Fortunately, that's the end of the Nightmare Fuel, and the Heartwarming kicks in soon after.
    • However, there's one little bonus of Fridge Horror to top it all off. The above bullet heavily implies that the Puppet can see the future. But does that mean she knows that the fire will be All for Nothing, and that Springtrap will escape to kill another day? That Elizabeth and Molten Freddy are still out there, and she'll be captured by one of her father's own creations?
  • The Night Security Training Video is a cheesily animated video explaining the ins and outs of the night shift jobs. However, it quickly descends into Nightmare Fuel. It starts off slow, with the background and all audio cutting out at the end of the CCTV segment. Then, while explaining how the doors and lights work, after turning on the light, Springtrap can be seen standing outside the window before a ringing noise plays and the video cuts out momentarily. During the third segment, the audio slowly gets distorted, before the video suddenly changes to a blank background. After a few seconds, Section four starts, titled "I am here." Three guesses as to what happens next.
  • "Facial Recognition Testing" is a video recording of Toy Bonnie as the employee assessing him tests out the criminal face recognition. An innocent person will make his eyes widen for a second, and a recognized felon will make him beep. And then the offscreen employee shows Toy Bonnie what can be presumed is William Afton. Toy Bonnie LUNGES offscreen presumably toward the image, and in turn the employee. The employee, after successfully deactivating Toy Bonnie before being killed, then walks out of the facility saying the entire establishment's a death trap.
    • Then a man's face appears on screen, with a text-to-speech voice echoing "Criminal..." in the background. The voice stops, and the face morphs into this. THIS is how the animatronics see William.
    • It's very subtle, and hard to see without photo-editing tools, but at the 1:08 mark in the video, a face appears in the background. At least it looks like it's in the background, but it's not. Toy Bonnie runs behind it.
    • It speaks volumes that this video was able to scare Dawko of all people.
  • While Nonexistent Video had the Puppet telling Michael Afton that she knows he's sorry, and that his brother Joseph will forgive him for his death, "Company PSA" makes it pretty damn clear that Joseph doesn't reciprocate those feelings. In fact, he's become Vengeful Spirit levels of bitter, angry, and vengeful.
    • Elaboration is needed. The video starts off slow, with the announcer explaining which direction Fredbear's will be going after the Bite of '83. The management decided to completely rebrand, replacing the old Springlock animatronics with the animatronics seen in Five Nights at Freddy's 2 in their non-withered form. The new animatronics will not be springlock suits and will not be wearable; wearable costumes will be separate suits entirely. The restaurant will also be completely rearranged, with the tables being shuffled around and another stage for Foxy being added. However, when explaining how the posters will be replaced and the prize area restocked, the audio cuts out at the very end, and the video turns to black. After a few seconds... something fades in, but is immediately replaced with the PSA resuming.
    • The weird and freaky thing about that thing? There is no indication as to what it might be. It's left completely up to the imagination which, when it comes to this channel, isn't a good thing.
    • The PSA continues with explaining about how some of the older patrons might be confused as to where Fredbear and Springbonnie went and who these new characters are. And as the music cuts out, the PSA explains what to say in these situations:
      Fredbear does not exist.
      Springbonnie does not exist.
      Nothing happened to anyone.
      He does not exist.
      He does not exist.
      He does not exist.
      He does not exist.
    • After that last Suspiciously Specific Denial, the image changes to Golden Freddy, slumped over in his FNAF 2 pose. Text appears on the bottom, heavily implied to be the Crying Child talking to Michael Afton. Golden Freddy tells Michael that he doesn't love him, and, as he draws closer to the camera, says that he'll be taking Michael with him "So you'll know how it feels to stop existing".
      I don't exist?
      You said you were sorry, and that you loved me.
      But I know you're lying.
      You don't love me.
      That's what you always said.
      I don't love you either.
      And I'll be Taking You with Me,
      so you'll know how it feels to stop existing.
    • The above conversation implies that Golden Freddy is going to do what the Vengeful Spirit did to whoever is the player in UCN to Michael. If the player is William, then at least the VS has a damn good excuse to give him a Fate Worse than Death, but Joseph is doing it out of sheer spite. He's dooming Michael Afton, a man who has changed since 1983, and his own brother, to his own personal hell, simply because he can. This effectively makes this version of the Crying Child more bitter, insane, and revenge driven than the Vengeful Spirit.Note 
      • Of course, keep in mind that part of the reason Joseph died was because of Michael's actions, and that Michael had abused him horribly beforehand as Five Nights at Freddy's 4 has shown. Said actions which have left Joseph stuck as a ghost haunting a suit who has since lost all hope of ever moving on as Animated Cartoon showcases. Yes, Joseph is much more spiteful than the Vengeful Spirit. But unlike the Vengeful Spirit, he has several more reasons to be, by years of abuse from said Big Brother Bully and that he caused his death.
  • Animated Cartoon was meant to mark the end of the 2nd "season" of the found footage tapesnote , and goddamn did it go off with a BANG.
    • The video starts off slow, innocent, and funny (in which is odd, considering the channel's track record). As the name states, it's a short cartoon showing the lives of the Fazbear Four after closing. Then, when Chica goes off to make pizza, she notices how there's 6 chairs when there's only four members of the band. Freddy writes it off as a weird coincidence (and throws some sass for good measure), but then the audio cuts off in the middle of Chica's next sentence. The entire time, the camera lingers on a shot of 6 chairs and four slices of pizza...
    • The shot fades out, then returns to a scene of Chica rummaging through some boxes in the back room. She pulls out a photo with the core four on it. However, there are two more figures, a bear and a rabbit, nothing more than silhouettes... or shadows...
    • Then, as the sound cuts out completely, Chica leaves the room, and the image cuts to one of the party rooms. As music box-esque music plays, the camera zooms in on a door, then cuts out completely as the door opens to reveal nothing more than a dark void. Chica moves to go through the door... and the image Smash Cuts to a clip from the Sound Response Check video. All aboard the nightmare train...
    • The image then cuts to a first-person view of someone wandering through a field covered in flowers. As classical music plays, a familiar face fades into view: the Fredbear plush in what appears to be his creepiest rendition yet, sporting an unsettling smile while his signature Arc Words slowly appear below him:
      Tomorrow is another day
    • Cut to a fiery background as the music suddenly heightens in volume and a rather decayed Fredbear (minus eyebrows, teeth, and left ear) pops up and is soon inches from the camera with those signature pinhole-eyes.
      we're never getting out
    • Immediately after this, the music stutters as a distorted image of Fredbear with a child in his mouth appears for a few seconds. The footage then cuts to a cartoon image of Foxy, with the Puppet fading in, all the while deep laughter and ballroom music are playing. Fortunately, this is where the Nightmare Fuel ends, and we immediately veer into Tear Jerker territory.
      • Also, do the eyes of the distorted child in Fredbear's mouth seem familiar to you? Well, they should because they're the exact thing that fades in during Company PSA!
  • "Memories." Dear God, Memories. Despite lacking any real disturbing imagery (Though this lacking imagery for most of it may as well make it scarier), it still may very well be one of, if not, the most disturbing tape in the series. It starts off with some shots of Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, with some pleasant music playing in the background. But then, it shifts into a recording from none other than William Afton himself. He explains his motives for why he killed the five children: He was heartbroken when Michael killed his younger brother, Joseph. He wanted to "put his hands around his neck and just squeeze the life out of him," but couldn't because he'd easily be caught. So, he took an alternative, and killed random children that he considered "brats" in Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria, and then leaving without feeling even a slight bit of guilt. At the end, he mentions that he checks the tape every day to see if it's been moved, and considering that it's being played, it's very likely Michael already has. And then it ends with this immensely horrifying line:
    William Afton: So you better put it back, Michael, as neatly as you can, and start running.
    • It's infinitely worse given that you can clearly hear the smile in his voice the entire time.
    • What's disturbing about Squimp's Afton is how dissonantly ordinary he sounds, giving the impression of a Standard '50s Father. He's not the cartoonish Evil Brit Mad Scientist from the games, the hammy Smug Snake of the movie, a Card-Carrying Villain or a holier-than-thou Poetic Serial Killer; he acts like a mundane, real-life serial killer all too well. Just another typical "normal person" who rationalizes every murder he commits with a messed up Freudian Excuse, almost as if he's Squimp's answer to Yoshikage Kira.
    • Despite William's claims that the reason he hates Michael is because of Joseph's death, there are several subtle hints throughout his dialogue ("But he's a liar," "Mike wasn't settled with being a failure," "that's why I didn't love him in the first place" and "he was always a terrible kid, not worth my time") that heavily imply William was already a neglectful and uncaring father to Michael before the Bite, which is what drove Mike to bullying Joseph and eventually accidentally killing him. All this goes to show that even when he's completely unrepentant about his murders, Afton's Freudian Excuse falls flat and reveals him to be a complete monster the entire time.
    • THIS can be seen in the background when the word "Memories" pops up the second time, right before William's tape starts. It is somehow more Uncanny Valley than the face from FACIAL RECOGNITION TESTING.
    • Imagine that you're one of the Missing Children at Freddy's. You're acting like a noisy brat, and then Spring Bonnie comes out and beckons you to come with him. Eagerly you go, only to be lured back into the storage area, and are horribly murdered. Afton claims that he "couldn't do much" because the children would "squeal," so he had to "make it quick enough to be efficient, but slow enough to make it last," but it's clear that they were stuffed into the suits. It doesn't matter WHY you were a brat that one time, a deranged murderer decided that you HAVE to be killed for him to be able to never kill his own son.
    • One of the images in the slideshow preceding the tapes is of the Springbonnie suit with Afton smiling fiercely through it. Uncomfortable doesn't even begin to describe it.
    • Note that Afton is rather vague as to how exactly he killed the kids. We know he was deliberately trying to hurt them, but what exactly did he do?
      • Given the other videos, it's not unlikely that he strangled them to death. Sound Response Check implies this by Chica repeating how she "Can't breathe," not to mention it is something that keeps them from making noises while making it "long enough to last." It looks like this Afton is a Kiddie Strangler too.
  • "Finale," of course, isn't going to let the series end without a little more horror.
    • The bulk of the video is recordings of William, stuck within the Springtrap suit in the secret room. He at first speaks with Dissonant Serenity, almost as if he just locked himself out of his house...until November 1993, when we hear him screaming at Michael to let him out, followed by him speaking with utter contempt and hatred.
      • The later recordings have him taking mainly to Michael, ending with this chilling sentiment:
      C'mon, Michael. Come visit me. I know you'll do it; she'll make you do it. I'll give you the warmest welcome you can imagineā€¦
    • After William's recordings, we get a silent Jump Scare from a monochrome shot of Springtrap's face, soon accompanied by a terrifying voice that barely even sounds like William.
    • Even before the true horror sets in there's something so...unsettling about the way William speaks. He constantly sounds like he's gasping for air to breathe, but he just...can't. Whatever's left of him is trying to live, but he's far past death at this point. He's conscious, but he's not alive. He's just left to exist with his psyche in this perpetual state of agony. If anything, Hell may be favored to this fate.
    • Finally, is a shot of a Fazbear's Fright hallway, pitch black after a very short distance. After Michael receives instructions from the Puppet, we are again jump scared, this time by a glitched image of Springtrap burning, followed by the photo of William's face...edited so it looks like it's melting, while flames surround it and a horrible scream rings out. The horror is mitigated only by the Catharsis Factor of knowing that it is an abusive father and child murderer who absolutely deserves this fate. And with that, the video becomes a mix of Tearjerker and Heartwarming, ending the Nightmare Fuel for good.

    Non-canon videos 

  • balloon_boy.mp4 starts off with everybody's favorite animatronic, Balloon Boy, alone in a dark void. Calming music starts playing, and after a few seconds, the camera zooms in on BB. He starts looking back and forth, but after a few seconds, he stops and looks directly at the camera. Shortly after that, he gains Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises, the image cuts out, and for a split second, this Nightmare Face, similar to Phantom BB's jumpscare face from Five Nights at Freddy's 3, flashes on screen. After a second or two, a heavily pixelated version of BB's face shows up. The jaw stretches, his laugh is heard, and the video glitches out and ends.
  • sad_girl.mp4 starts out with Circus Baby towering over the camera, while a little tune plays on a trumpet. After the short tune is over, Baby recites some sort of poem-song-thing about Elizabeth Afton, which quickly develops into a Madness Mantra. Halfway through the final line, she stops, the lights cut out, and all that can be seen are her glowing eyes. Eventually, those cut out too, and then, with as much contempt as a text-to-speech program can muster, she utters the final line of her poem:
    • During the latter half of her poem, Baby's eyes start moving, almost imperceptibly, so by the time the lights cut out, she's moved from staring straight ahead to looking directly at the camera.
    • After the above line is spoken, it Smash Cuts to this Nightmare Face: Baby's faceplates shifted all out of whack, with two piercing eyes and a frown peeking out of the eyesockets and mouth. Elizabeth is heard speaking to Baby, even though it's hard to hear, but before she can finish, a loud howling is heard... and the video glitches out and ends.
    • For those who had a hard time deciphering the speech throughout the video, a transcript is below:
      Baby: There was a young girl who sulked in her room,
      She wanted an ice cream, and wanted one soon.
      She went to her father; he turned her away.
      He always turned her away.
      She was so sad.
      She was so sad.
      She was so sad.

      She was so sad.

      She-

      ...
      Who could ever love a girl like Elizabeth?
      Elizabeth: Daddy isn't watching... Don't tell Daddy I'm here. I wanted to watch your show too! I don't know why he wouldn't-
    • As it turns out, those lines at the end are the ones Elizabeth speaks at the end of the True Ending in Sister Location, where she sneaks off to see Baby despite her father's wishes. Fridge Horror kicks in when you listen to the poem again, then the lines at the end, then, while taking the context of those words into consideration, put two and two together...
  • birthday_boy.mp4. A video of Funtime Freddy shuffling around in the darkness, while an 8-bit version of "Happy Birthday" plays. However, when the music ends, all that can be seen in the darkness are his eyes. Funtime Freddy then gets close to the camera, opens up his faceplates, and, while distorted music plays, reveals the face seen above as the page image. What the everloving FUCK.
    • To elaborate on this...thing: that's a child in there. A child, tangled in the wires, with pitch black, Springtrap-like eyes, and wearing the mother of all Slasher Smiles. It's almost like the Funtime animatronics were built to capture and kill kids... oh wait!
  • father.mp4, the final entry in the .mp4 series, is... surprisingly somber at first. It begins with Springtrap standing in a dark void, as the mugshots of Foxy and Circus Baby fade in. Then the Nightmare Fuel kicks in as Purple Guynote  pops up on the left side of the screen. A purple Springtrap fades in over Purple Guy - perhaps representing Afton's change into Springtrap - and as Springtrap completely blocks him out, the video and audio completely conk out.
    • After a few moments, the image cuts back in, glitching heavily and with Springtrap closer to the camera. It rapidly changes from Springtrap staring directly at the camera, to clips from the Pirate Cove Pre-Show and Nonexistent Video, culminating in the springlock failure from the latter video. And as the video ends, Springtrap fades into the darkness as the music fades as well...
  • "bonnie.mp4" and its followup, "power_outage.mp4" may be short videos, but they're also a realistic, even scarier recreation of the very sense of fear that put Five Nights At Freddy's in the spotlight since the first game. This time around, we see through the lens of poor Mike Schmidt's point of view in Squimp's "found footage" style of filming, and while he stays silent the whole time in both videos, you can still tell just how terrified he truly feels like anyone would in his situation, as well as pinpoint the exact moment of "Oh, Crap!" shortly after he finds Bonnie staring at him from the doorway.
    • The worst part about the ending of power_outage.mp4? Freddy doesn't pop up and wave his head and arms around like a muppet after he's done playing his signature "You Are Already Dead" tune. Simply put, he goes fucking ballistic on Mike before the video cuts short.


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